5/5/13: A road trip project for my big trip to Florida for my swearing in ceremony (into the Florida Bar). Even though my “Sheldon” Bobble Sheep is yet to have any feet, I was adamant about starting this project for some mindless knitting in the long car ride from NY to FL. My husband and I are hoping on our first child in the next few years, so he encouraged me to start a baby blanket.

This is my first project using the “flicking” technique. I am an English knitter, so I decided in an effort to pick up speed and maintain contact with the right needle, I would try verypink.com ‘s technique of pivoting the right needle to hook the working yarn. While I have to admit it felt a bit awkward in the beginning, I am really loving the feeling now. It will take time to develop a consistent position for the working yarn in my right index finger. This will be key to maintaining a consistent tension throughout the work.

I’m using my Knitter’s Pride circular needles, size 8. I love that I can keep switching the length of the cable to accommodate the growing width of this project. I experienced my first splinter today. Yuck! Luckily my husband cut me a small piece of sandpaper to keep in my knitting tool pouch to quickly remedy this bamboo ailment.

5/16/13: Webs (yarn.com) sent replacement needles just in time. I suffered 2 painful splinters on my road trip while trying to use the damaged ones. Luckily, when I got home my needles had already arrived! No charge! Great customer service!

I’m struggling with the decreasing lace panels “C”s. I am not sure but it creates a different 3 hole pattern in the panel. Maybe it’s intentional. I’m not sure. My first and third rows of holes were aligned on all the “A” lace panels during the increase.

I have used 2 skeins so far, so I am happy that I estimated needing 4. The plan was to have at least 1 skein leftover for a baby accessory to match – a tiny hat perhaps!

It has been exciting to share this project with my mom, nana and sister on my road trip home to FL. It is special because my husband and I have baby plans on the horizon. it’s really exciting to start allowing myself to dream about this goal in my life. I’ve held off for a long time while we trudged through college, grad school, then law school. I want to work for a few years before I attempt the mom title, but at least this project is a physical representation of my commitment to achieve this lifelong goal.

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I’m crazy about Downton Abbey! I love the cloche hat – so stylish! So of course, I fell head over heels for this pattern! It’s called The Lucy Hat. It’s made with the most amazing yarn called Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in “Hickory” and “Tart”. I had a difficult time tracking down these colorways, but ultimately landed a skein of each from Jimmy Beans Wool. Woot! Woot! (Even though the stock was listed as 0, it shipped to me the next business day! It certainly pays to ask! Excellent customer service!)

I tried to substitute with “Teddy Bear” and “Byzantine” – which are the similar but more muted than these.

Wrap Stitch: I found the verypink.com tutorials helpful here. I was relieved to find that it wasn’t necessary to pick up the wraps in subsequent rows. What a relief! I think sparing us that challenge was kind of the designer.

I just watched ‘Christmas at Downton’ last night. It was fun to see all the cloche hats in action! I love the post-war style; as the ladies’ clothes get a little more simple, their accessories have a chance to shine! (Especially these hats!) My Season 2 DVD has a special feature, in which the actors discuss their characters’ style of dress throughout the season. I love it!

My Knit Notes:

5/19/13: This is my first experience with Madelinetosh. This hickory colorway is everything I was hoping for. It has great color variety and richness. I was going to substitute with Teddy Bear, but I am so glad I didn’t. It was more solid color without the variation that I love a out Hickory. No shedding so far. It’s a quite durable fiber, which is perfect for a hat. It seems like it will stand up to years of use.

5/20/13: short rows done! Ready for the contrast color!

5/21/13: stockinette in the round = knit every round. Why is this so confusing? I wish the designer would just say knit! This is the first time I’ve seen this straight knit referred to as stockinette in a circular pattern. I’m glad I was paying close attention to the model photo and realized there is no purling in the mid-section.

5/25/13: I decided to make the body a bit longer than the pattern suggests. I went for 6.25 instead of 5.25 inches. This is a testament to the customization you can achieve when creating garments with yourself in mind. I love wearing hats low and over my ears a bit. To suit me and to prevent tugging from making the top perfectly round, I added one inch.

5/29/13: All done! Ends weaved in! I decided not to sew down the flap, I think its “adjustability” will be beneficial with use.

I truly LOVED making this project. I have my eye on a similar pattern that will use this same type of yarn. I am a BIG fan of Madelinetosh after this and I can’t wait to order a blue hue for a hat for my husband. It knit up very fast! Since it is knit from the bottom upwards, the challenge of the flap is over right up front and then the easy mindless knitting of the body begins. I loved the top decreases. It adds a subtle sophistication to this project. I also think that this pattern is so gorgeous because it is perfectly suited to this Tosh Vintage yarn. It has enough firmness to keep a shape and enough stability to withstand use during wear. I love it!

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My first adventure with Bobbles! Woot Woot! Learning a “Bobble” stitch has been on my “Knit Before I Die” list for a long time. When I saw this adorable project on the PurlBee.com blog, I just fell in love ………

This is my first project with the Crochet chain cast-on technique (aka Provisional Cast On), so I am anxious to see how it turns out when I have to return to the live stitches on the belly. I found this tutorial SUPER helpful for the Provision Cast On method: http://verypink.com/2011/02/15/provisional-cast-on/

It is so adorable already! The bobbles have such an interesting texture that I love holding it even when I’m not in the knitting throws. The side gusset worked out perfectly. The pillow architecture is coming together beautifully.

There is a typo on Row 17. There is any extra “K2” before the SM. Disregard that.

I added new pictures – showing my progress. I am now starting the mid-section of the Sheep. No more increasing! The instruction for the markers is incredibly helpful.

4/16/13: Starting the decrease! Starting the last skein of the Merino! I’m getting nervous about the other parts, but hopefully I will conquer my fears soon. Picked up a mini Sheep toy for Karma, my dog. Now she can have her own! Looks the same!

4/22/13: The body is complete! I survived the kitchener stitch to close up the back. Now, its on to the head! I wish that I would have waited to weave in the ends because I just realized that I will be picking up stitches in this same area to create the head and ears. I hope I don’t accidentally pick up the weaved-in ends as new stitches!

4/27/13: Oh no! Yesterday I cast on the head beautifully and knit the whole thing – ready for kitchener stitch and a little stuffing – when I realized that I had put the head on the tail’s spot! I was devastated!! I had already cut the yarn and everything! I can’t believe I never noticed. I knit the piece in one sitting, so I guess I never laid it down to notice the curvature where the head should be. I snapped a few pictures, then ‘frogged’ the head into a small center-wound ball and I am ready to try again on the correct place soon. Wish me luck! lol!

5/1/13: Almost there…. Finished the head (now in the right spot..lol), added the adorable ears and tail. The ears are so cute! They give this sheep such personality. I was debating on including the ears, but I am so glad that I went for it. The tail is pretty plain, but adds spunk nonetheless.

I also did the body stuffing and final grafting to close the belly today. I wish that I would have left a longer tail at the initial cast on because I ran out during the Kitchener stitch and had to add on about a foot. I love how it turned out. Now only feet to go! lol! what a pun!

My Insight:

I think the pattern needs some clarification -

When casting on for the head: you make 3 stitches for each one picked up only on the left and right sides of the head (not the top of the head). Its a 3-sided head. For the top, you only make one out of each one picked up. Therefore, 15 becomes 45 on left, 15 becomes 45 on the right, and 2 becomes 2 on the top. Total: 92 stitches after the set up. Then this is divided onto 4 DPNs for 16,30,30,16.

I used DPNs for the head and the markers kept slipping off, so I decided to clip them onto the yarn in the row below so I could see them but didn’t have to slip each round or worry about them constantly falling off. This was effective.

When casting on initially make sure you leave a tail that is long enough for the final stage – Kitchener stitch. I had to add some length at the end and it felt awkward. I wish I would have known to leave more than a few inches, which I typically leave for weaving in.

There should be clearer notation that the tail is NOT knit in the round. I made it first connecting in the round, only to rip it back out and try again. Since it comes right after the ears, I was in circular mode I guess.